Green Wood Hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) [XC326217]
by Bram Piot from Port Alfred, Eastern Cape, South Africa (call)
Green Wood Hoopoe (Phoeniculus purpureus) [XC62401]
by isaac kilusu from Oribi Gorge Nature Reserve, South Africa (call)
Nest
In a natural tree hole or an old nest of a barbet.
Eggs (Guide)
Clutch Size: 2 - 4
Color: blue
Incubation: 18 days
Subspecies
Generally considered to form a superspecies with Black-billed Woodhoopoe (Phoeniculus somaliensis) and Violet Woodhoopoe (Phoeniculus damarensis). All sometimes treated as conspecific.
All subspecies apparently intergrade in areas where boundaries meet. Birds from western Uganda (ruwenzorae) and Natal (zuluensis) considered inseparable from marwitzi; erythrorhynchos is a synonym of nominate purpureus.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
guineensis (Reichenow, 1902) - Northern Senegal and Mali to northern Ghana, Nigeria, Chad and Central African Republic.
senegalensis (Vieillot, 1822) - Southern Senegal and Gambia east to southern Ghana.
niloticus (Neumann, 1903) - Sudan, western Ethiopia and north-eastern Zaire.
marwitzi (Reichenow, 1906) - Eastern Uganda and Kenya south to central and eastern Natal. Also extreme southern Somalia (2 records).
angolensis (Reichenow, 1902) - Angola and Namibia east to western Zambia and western Zimbabwe.
purpureus (Miller, 1784) - Cape Province east to Transkei.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet